Chapter 8
More reduced sounds
There are two sounds that look similar, but sound quite different. One is the tense vowel [u:], pronounced [ooh], and the other is the soft vowel [u], whose pronunciation is a combination of [ih] and [uh]. The [u:] sound is located far forward in the mouth and requires you to round your lips. The [u] is one of the four reduced vowel sounds that are made in the throat: the most tense, and highest in the throat is[e], next, slightly more relaxed is [i], then [u],, and deepest and most relaxed is the neutral schwa [ε]. For the reduced semivowel schwa + R, the throat is relaxed, but the tongue is tense.
More reduced sounds
There are two sounds that look similar, but sound quite different. One is the tense vowel [u:], pronounced [ooh], and the other is the soft vowel [u], whose pronunciation is a combination of [ih] and [uh]. The [u:] sound is located far forward in the mouth and requires you to round your lips. The [u] is one of the four reduced vowel sounds that are made in the throat: the most tense, and highest in the throat is[e], next, slightly more relaxed is [i], then [u],, and deepest and most relaxed is the neutral schwa [ε]. For the reduced semivowel schwa + R, the throat is relaxed, but the tongue is tense.